


Rivalry

by curl



Category: The Next Step
Genre: Angst, Enemies to Lovers, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Ozzy & Henry, Ozzy & Izzy, Ozzy & Kingston, Richelle is dance captain in this bc tbh idek who is atm??, set sometime in season 7 i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:34:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25182574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curl/pseuds/curl
Summary: Ozzy and Heath fight all the time. After one fight ends on a rather surprising note, Ozzy tries to avoid Heath as best as he can. Eventually, Izzy, Kingston and Henry do something about it.
Relationships: Ozzy/Heath
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

Ozzy's first mistake was not turning around as soon as he saw Heath alone in studio A.  
They were friends now; Heath was one of the bros. Still, Ozzy could not let go of their deep-rooted rivalry, petty as it may be.  
Seeing Heath always brought about a strange mix of feelings in Ozzy, most of which he didn't bother to detangle. So he acted on the one that was the easiest to follow – the impulse to insult him. After all, he could not be in the same room as Heath without making it clear how much he did not want to be.  
He did know that he should have just walked away before he even opened his mouth.  
But he couldn't help himself.  
“Well, well, well,” he said. “If it isn't Heathcliff.”  
“If it isn't Oswald,” Heath responded, barely looking at him.  
His focus was clearly on his dancing.  
“Sorry if I'm disturbing you,” Ozzy said, trying to disturb him. “I know you need the extra practice to keep up with me.”  
Heath proceeded to do an aerial, sticking the landing with a slight smirk. “Already ahead of you.”  
Ozzy could tell that his form was incredible, but of course he would never admit that.  
Instead, he did an aerial as well, landing only a few steps next to Heath.  
Heath, however, remained unimpressed, even rolling his eyes for emphasis. “Clearly you wouldn't be here right now if you didn't need the extra practice too.”  
Ozzy took a step closer. “At least I got onto A-troupe before someone dropped out.”  
Stepping closer as well, Heath replied, “But I did get onto A-troupe.”  
“As an alternate.” Ozzy knew it was a cheap shot, but he would use it as long as it got a rise out of Heath.  
Heath held his head high while his face turned more sinister. “I figured you out, you know.”  
“Pray tell, Heathcliff,” Ozzy said and stepped closer yet again, eyebrows furrowed in doubt. “I could use a good laugh.” He tried his best to hide the nervosity creeping up inside of him.  
“You're threatened by me. Always have been.” There was an undertone in Heath's voice that was almost triumphant.  
“Please.” Ozzy replied, scrunching up his face with contempt.  
“That's why you tripped me back then,” Heath insisted. “You thought I was looking too good compared to you and sabotaged me!”  
Ozzy huffed, rolling his eyes. “How. many. times? It was an accident!”  
They were raising their voices now. Ozzy knew it was his own fault that they ended up having this fight. Again.  
He should have just walked away.  
“Just admit it!” Heath hissed.  
“I'm not admitting something that isn't true!” Ozzy became painfully aware of how close they were standing, but he couldn't back away now. “If you can't get over it then I guess we can't be friends after all!” It hurt himself a little, saying that. Sometimes he thought it might work out somehow, but it never lasted long. Ozzy just couldn't stop pushing him away.  
Heath held his gaze as they were both staring furiously at each other. “Why would I wanna be friends with someone like you!”

A second passed. Ozzy's mind went blank. The next thing he knew was that his lips were pressed against Heath's.  
It was over as soon as it happened.  
They separated, staring at each other, mortified.  
Ozzy felt as though the air had been sucked out of his lungs, and his heart was beating so fast he thought he might pass out.  
Then, as though the invisible chains holding them in place had disappeared, they turned around without another word and left studio A through separate doors.  
Of course they had both been too preoccupied with what happened to notice a shocked Kingston staring through the office windows.

The next day, Ozzy was not in a hurry to get to rehearsal. When he entered studio A, everyone was already there, stretching and warming up.  
And of course, everyone included Heath. Their eyes met briefly, but they quickly turned their heads away.  
With this giant pit in his stomach, Ozzy wasn't sure he would be able to get even two inches off the ground.  
Kingston approached him, and it was written all over his face that he was stressed about something.  
“Sorry I didn't come online last night,” Ozzy said before Kingston could open his mouth. “I was busy...studying.” He really should have come up with a better excuse beforehand.  
With a sarcastic undertone Kingston replied, “Nevermind that me and Henry lost five games in a row.” He leaned a bit closer and spoke on more quietly. “Listen, I feel it is my duty as your best friend... to let you know...” he took a deep breath, as though he was preparing to rip off a band-aid, “I saw you and Heath kiss.”  
Ozzy's heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened. He looked over his shoulder to see if anyone had heard Kingston say that before dragging him a bit further away from the others. “What?!” he hissed.  
“I went into Nick's office to find a pen and you two were fighting and I thought nothing of it because you're always fighting and I really didn't wanna get involved..”  
Ozzy barely followed Kingston's story and gestured for him to get to the point.  
“And when I looked up I saw it,” Kingston concluded, nervously awaiting Ozzy's reaction.  
They were interupted by Richelle, who ordered the dancers to find their positions.  
“We'll talk later, okay? I can explain.” Ozzy whispered before they spread out like the rest.  
Ozzy, of course, could not explain. He barely knew what to think of this entire situation.

Rehearsal was a disaster. Ozzy was unfocused and kept messing up. He was expecting Richelle to call him out, but instead she addressed Heath.  
“Just because you got onto A-troupe doesn't mean you can slack off now. Keep up.”  
Her tone was firm as always, and Ozzy wondered if it would even matter to her if she knew the reason why Heath was not doing well. She would probably insist that any distractions were to be left outside of rehearsal.  
That's what Ozzy was trying to do, he even tried not to look at Heath in the giant mirror in front of them, although he did steal a glance or two.  
Just when he thought he was safe, Richelle called him out as well.  
“Ozzy, come on, now's your chance to one-up Heath!”  
He wondered if Richelle was doing this on purpose, if she knew the truth and was teasing them, or if he was just being paranoid.  
When he didn't respond, Richelle squinted her eyes slightly in suspicion. “What's going on? Usually you two would be fighting like a married couple right about now.”  
“We would not!” Ozzy retorted without missing a beat, immediately embarrassed about his overreaction.  
Richelle raised her eyebrows. “It was just a joke, sheesh..”  
“I'm sorry, I'm just tired.” Heath said in a weak attempt to appease her.  
She eyed both him and Ozzy suspiciously. “Don't tell me you've been staying up late to play that stupid game!”  
They were quiet, trying to decide what was worse; getting in trouble for this or telling the truth.  
In that moment, Kingston spoke up like the knight in shining armor he was. “I did, too.”  
Without hesitation, Henry joined in. “Me too.”  
It was a huge relief for Ozzy to be proven once again that he could always count on his bros.  
“You better start taking this seriously,” Richelle said with an ice cold gaze that could strike fear into God, “or I'll win Dancemania with 6 people if I have to! Are we clear?”  
The four boys nodded, not daring to look her in the eyes, while the other dancers watched the scene awkwardly.

After rehearsal, when everyone had left the locker room, Ozzy and Kingston stayed behind.  
“Hey, man, thanks for helping me out back there,” Ozzy said, still unsure of how to approach this conversation.  
“Of course. A bro always helps another bro,” Kingston replied and gave Ozzy a pat on the shoulder.  
Ozzy sighed. “No-one can know about this.”  
Suddenly, Kingston's demeanor changed and he raised his chin. “What's in it for me?”  
Ozzy's eyes widened. “Are you serious?!” He couldn't believe, after everything, Kingston would backstab him like this.  
“When me and Lily started dating you blackmailed us too!” Kingston retorted.  
“This is different! You guys are straight!” He blinked at Kingston and quickly added, “I mean, I don't know that I'm not.” He hesitated. “I'm.. probably not.”  
He could no longer bear to look at Kingston and turned his head to the side. There was no doubt in his mind that Kingston would react well, but it was still the first time he ever admitted it to someone out loud.  
“Wasn't very straight of you to kiss Heath, I won't lie.” Kingston said.  
“ _He_ kissed _me_.” Ozzy insisted, although it was more to try and absolve himself from any guilt than convincing Kingston. “It's bad enough that this happened, but what's even worse is that it happened with a guy. Please, you can't tell anyone.” At this point Ozzy was even considering going down on his knees and beg.  
Kingston raised his hands defensively. “Okay, okay. I was never going to tell anyone. I'm sorry.”  
Ozzy groaned, partly with annoyance, partly with relief. “You're killing me.”  
Kingston put a hand on Ozzy's shoulder, “I think you don't need to worry about this so much. No-one here is gonna care if you're gay.”  
“I'm not-” Ozzy sighed. “Look, I just need time to figure this out.”  
“Then you should probably clear things up with Heath.” Kingston suggested. “Watching you two struggle though rehearsal today was not pretty.”  
Ozzy shook his head. “Uh-uh, no way. I can't even look at him, let alone talk to him. This is all way too embarrassing. And even if I, like,” his voice became more quiet, “came out or whatever... I'd never admit that I kissed _Heathcliff_. Gross.”  
“You what?”  
Ozzy froze when he heard Henry's voice behind him. A second later, howerver, he did feel somewhat relieved that it was _only_ Henry.  
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning to face Henry. “I can explain.”  
“That's what you said to me too but you haven't really explained anything.” Kingston remarked.  
In Henry's mind things seemed to click into place. “Oh, is what why you two were acting so weird today?”  
Hesitant, Ozzy nodded. “Yesterday.. Heath and I were in studio A and we got into a fight.”  
“As usual.” Kingston interjected.  
“And I don't know what happened but suddenly we kissed.” Ozzy was talking more quietly now, fearing that someone else might come along.  
“And I saw them.” Kingston added.  
Henry was silent for a bit, his eyes jumping between Ozzy and Kingston. “Is that also why you didn't come online last night? Because me and Kingston lost five games in a row.”  
“Henry, I think I have more important things to worry about right now than Legions of Lasers!” Ozzy snapped at him.  
Both Henry and Kingston looked offended.  
Then Henry finally focused on the issue at hand. “So.. do you have, like, a crush on him or...?”  
“No!” Ozzy replied without missing a beat. “I don't know what came over me, but it will never, _never_ , happen again!”  
“Well, it wasn't just you.” Kingston said. “I mean, he kissed you too. I saw it.” He looked at Henry and nodded emphatically. “I saw it.”  
“So, what are you gonna do now?” Henry asked.  
Ozzy shrugged. “Nothing. This whole thing is just gonna blow over and we can all forget about it.” He tried to speak with nonchalance. “I'm already over it. It's like nothing happened.”  
Of course, Kingston and Henry were not convinced, and neither was Ozzy himself.  
“What about the bros?” Kingston asked.  
“It's all gonna go back to normal in no time, you'll see.” Ozzy replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. “But he can't play Legions of Lasers with us anymore.”  
Henry tilted his head. “Why.”  
“Uh, because he always plays as Shadow Lord?” Ozzy said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.  
Henry didn't seem to follow. “And?”  
“And I always play as Empress of the Night!” Ozzy replied.  
“And?” Kingston asked.  
Ozzy huffed. “It means we always pair up.”  
“You don't have to do that, though.” Henry said.  
Ozzy was already agitated enough about the whole kissing Heath situation, and now he apparently also had to explain Legions of Lasers to them as though they hadn't been playing that game for ages. “Shadow Lord and Empress of the Night complement each other perfectly! It would be insane not to pair up!”  
“Okay. But,” Henry said, “ever since Heath started playing with us, our win to lose ratio has improved drastically, right?”  
Reluctantly, Ozzy agreed. “Right.”  
Henry continued, “And you're having fun?”  
Ozzy sighed, because he knew what Henry was trying to do. “Yes.”  
With a slight shake of his head, Henry asked, “So, what's the problem?”  
“The problem is that I kissed him and if I ever have to play with him again I'm gonna throw up on my keyboard!” Ozzy's shoulders dropped. “I'm sorry. I just.. I don't know how to deal with this.”  
Kingston put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, we're here for you, bro.”  
“Anytime.” Henry added.  
Ozzy cracked a smile and lowered his gaze. “Thanks, guys.”

It wasn't too bad that Kingston and Henry knew his big secret. They had learned it earlier than Ozzy had hoped and he would have preferred to tell them on his own time, but he knew he was going to tell them eventually, and he knew they would have been cool with it.  
This was a somewhat cold comfort, though, considering the situation with Heath showed no signs of betterment even after several days.  
They still didn't talk to each other, didn't even look at each other if it could be avoided.  
Ozzy had never felt so embarrassed in his life. Within the blink of an eye he had made himself so incredibly vulnerable – and to his biggest rival of all people.  
He didn't think Heath would somehow try and use this against him. For one, they were in the same boat, so Heath couldn't really do anything without incriminating himself as well. More importantly, they had more or less become friends before this incident. There rivalry was still very much intact, but he had learned that he could trust Heath when it mattered.  
However, there was still a part of him that loathed Heath. For making him feel this way, for making him think about the fact that one day he might have to tell the world that he liked guys.  
It would be so much easer if he could stick to liking only girls, but Heath just had to come and give him butterflies.  
The worst thing was that Ozzy didn't have very high hopes for these feelings to go away any time soon. He'd had them for so long, and for the most pard he'd managed to convince himself that they were something other than attraction, that there was another explanation as to why seeing Heath always seemed to drive up his pulse.  
However, after the kiss he could no longer deny the fact that that was what he'd wanted to do all along. And that he wanted to do it again.

After yet another disastrous rehearsal, Ozzy stayed behind in studio A for a few minutes just to avoid seeing another glimpse of Heath.  
He knew it was ridiculous, but out of all his options – which were not a lot – this seemed like the best to him.

Not long after everyone else had cleared out, Izzy stomped into the studio.  
“Ozzy!” she called before she even came to a halt. “What did you do now?!”  
She had her hands on her hips and stared him down furiously.  
Normally, Ozzy wouldn't be that intimidated by his little sister, but he was already on edge and probably a little paranoid.  
“What?” he asked, trying to sound clueless in the hopes that she was angry because of an entirely unrelated issue.  
“I just talked to Heath.” she said.  
Ozzy felt a cold shiver run down his back while simultaneously getting hotter.  
When he didn't respond, Izzy spoke on. “I asked him if he wanted to hang out at our house later and he said,” her voice took on a mocking tone, “'not if Oswald's there'. What's that about?”  
Ozzy swallowed nervously. “Did he say why?”  
“He just told me to ask you.” Izzy said, clearly irritated by having to deal with this.  
He shrugged, trying to play it down. “We just got into a fight, is all.”  
Unsurprisingly, Izzy was not content with that answer. “You two fight all the time! What's different this time?!” After a short pause she added, “I thought you were, like, friends now or something.”  
The disappointment in her voice did not escape Ozzy. He knew it couldn't be easy for her to always stand between him and Heath.  
“Well, we aren't.” he replied a bit more harshly than he intendend.  
Izzy threw her hands up. “I am so sick of this!” she snapped. She took a deep breath before she spoke on. “You're my brother and I love you, but I'm so tired of your stupid grudge interfering with _my_ friendship with Heath. You need to _fix_ this.”  
“I can't!” Ozzy replied.  
“Why not?” The desperation in her voice was unmistakeable.  
Ozzy was quiet, his mind racing as he was trying to figure out where to go from here.  
Now starting to worry, Izzy tilted her head slightly. “What's going on?”  
Ozzy hesitated, his eyes jumping from side to side. “If I tell you something, do you promise not to tell anyone?”  
Izzy shook her head slightly in confusion. “Sure.”  
He became more and more confident that he wanted to tell her. “And I mean absolutely no-one.”  
“I get it.” Izzy replied.  
“I need you to say it.”  
Izzy all but rolled her eyes. “I promise I won't tell anyone.” To really drive home the point she added, “I swear on Rick Grimes' grave.”  
It was reassuring to know that she understood the gravity of the situation. Otherwise she wouldn't bring her late hamster into this.  
Ozzy took a deep breath. “We did get into a fight,” he hesitated, “but then... we kissed.”  
Izzy's eyes widened with utter bewilderment. Her mouth fell open but it took her a moment to find her voice. “What?!”  
“It was an accident!” Ozzy said.  
“How do you kiss someone by accident?!”  
“I don't know!” Ozzy huffed, trying to calm himself down a bit. “Point is, I can never talk to him again.”  
Izzy did roll her eyes now. “You can't just never talk to him again.”  
“Watch me.” Ozzy replied, all but pouting as he crossed his arms.  
They were silent fo a moment.  
When Izzy spoke again, her voice was considerably softer. “Ozzy..”  
“Look,” he said before she could go on, “I'm sorry you're affected by this but.. I don't know what to do. I'm just.. really confused right now.”  
Izzy pursed her lips and nodded slowly. She stepped towards Ozzy, swinging her arms back and forth loosely. “So... you like guys?”  
Ozzy scoffed, followed by an I-don't-know-sound. Finally, he sighed. “..Yeah.”  
Even more cautiously, Izzy asked, “..Do you like Heath?”  
“No!” Ozzy replied without missing a beat. “Why does everyone think that?!”  
“Well, you did kiss him.” Izzy said.  
“ _He_ kissed _me_!” Ozzy insisted.  
Izzy blinked. “Wait, who's everyone?”  
“Just Kingston and Henry.” Ozzy said with a wave of his hand. “They found out.. But that's already more than enough people.”  
He lowered his gaze, trying to wrap his head around the fact that he had just come out to his sister.  
Izzy was looking at him with her head tilted slightly. “Come here.” she said soflty and pulled him into a hug. “Thanks for telling me.”  
Ozzy wrapped his arms around her and let out a breath of relief.  
After a few moments Izzy pulled away and looked at him. “You're gonna have to talk to him eventually. You can't dance on the same team like this.”  
“I think I'd rather die.”  
Izzy shrugged. “I could talk to him if you want?” she suggested.  
“No.” Ozzy replied. “And no meddling, understand?”  
With a huff, Izzy said, “Okay.”  
“Promise.”  
She rolled her eyes. “I promise.”  
However, Ozzy didn't check for crossed fingers. Rookie mistake.  
Even though he still didn't know what to do he did feel a little lighter now.  
He put an arm around Izzy's shoulders as they walked out of the studio.

It didn't get easier to avoid Heath, but at least there was no pressure coming from Izzy anymore.  
However, everyone else on A-troupe had probably caught on to the fact that something was off. It was especially odd that Ozzy and Heath not only didn't talk to each other, but also didn't get into any petty fights as they usually did pretty much daily.  
No-one said a word, though. They probably either preferred it this way or were too caught up in the preperations for Dancemania to care.

One day, Ozzy walked into the locker room and almost turned around on his heel when he saw that Heath was there and no-one else.  
He tried to gloss over his moment of hesitation as best as he could and walked to his locker, pretending he didn't even notice Heath.  
When he was almost out of the door again, Heath's voice made him freeze in his tracks.  
“Ozzy.”  
He only stood there for a brief moment before he decided to just keep walking. The fact that Heath tried to reach out made him panic. He wasn't ready for this confrontation, and he didn't think he would ever be.

As he was walking down the hallway he received a text from Kingston, asking to meet him in studio A. Ozzy figured Kingston and Lily had broken up yet again, and Kingston needed someone to talk to.  
Even though it was annoying, Ozzy wanted to be there for Kingston. Plus, it might be nice to think about someone else's drama for a change.

When he entered the studio, he found it to be completely empty. He went to sit on one of the benches and took out his phone to send Kingston a text when someone else came in.  
Ozzy looked up to see Heath and froze.  
They stared at each other for a moment until Ozzy asked, “What are you doing here?”  
He knew it was ridiculous to think that, but it felt like Heath was just here to rile him up with his presence.  
Heath blinked at him and half-heartedly held up the phone in his hands. “Henry texted me to meet him here.”  
It only took Ozzy a moment to understand what was happening. “It's a set-up.” he said and jumped to his feet. Just then, one of the doors fell shut.  
Ozzy sprinted towards the other one but it was closed just before he could reach it. He rattled the handle but to no avail; it was locked.  
Meanwhile, Heath had reached the door on the far side of the studio, only to find it locked as well.  
Ozzy banged his hand against the door. “Kingston! Henry!?”  
His blood was all but boiling, not only was he furious with his friends, it also started to sink in that he was locked in a room alone with Heath.  
His phone vibrated and he was not all that surprised to see a text from Izzy. Of course she was in on this. Not only that – she had probably come up with it in the first place.  
“We'll only let you out if you talk to each other.” it read.  
Ozzy huffed as he turned around and leaned against the door. “We're stuck.”  
Heath was slowly walking back across the dancefloor. Quietly, he asked, “Do they know?”  
“Yes,” Ozzy replied with his head turned away. “And I told Izzy after _you_ told her you don't wanna hang out with her! Great move, by the way.”  
“It's hard enough that I have to see you here all the time!” Heath replied.  
Ozzy didn't respond. Admittedly, this was the first time it occurred to him that this situation could be hard for Heath too.  
“Wait, maybe I- crap, nevermind.” Heath mumbled more to himself than to Ozzy.  
Ozzy glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “What?”  
“My zombie survival kit is in my locker.” Heath replied as though it was a normal thing to say. “I bet there's something in there that could get us out.”  
“You are such an idiot!” Ozzy snapped at him, even though he was not exactly sure what for – leaving the zombie survival kit in his locker or having one in the first place.  
“I'm not seeing you making any progress over there either!” Heath retorted.  
Ozzy huffed and turned his back to Heath to rattle the door handle again even though he knew it was no use. “Whatever, let's just try and get out of here so I can move across the country and never have to see you again.” he grumbled.

There was a brief silence, and Ozzy almost flinched at the agitation in Heath's voice when he said, “If you hate me so much why did you kiss me?”  
Ozzy stood there frozen, his fingers gripping the door handle tightly. He didn't expect Heath to be so direct.  
His first impulse was to turn around and say,“ _You_ kissed _me_!” He knew very well that it wasn't entirely true, but it was easier to just put all the blame on Heath instead of facing his feelings about his own involvement.  
“Seriously?” Heath said, raising his eyebrows. “I don't know if you remember, but I was there too and I know it wasn't just me!” He paused, keeping his eyes firmly on Ozzy. “Why don't you just say what your problem is?!”  
“My problem?” Ozzy responded. “ _You_ are my problem! You're always in my head!” Ozzy closed his eyes for a moment as he realized that he had truly reached the point of no return.  
“What?” Heath asked with slightly less anger to make room for confusion.  
Ozzy hesitated, but then decided to take the plunge before he could change his mind. He finally looked at Heath directly as he all but spat out the words, “I have a crush on you! Is that what you wanted to hear?!”  
Heath stared at him and his expression softened up considerably as he stood there on the dancefloor, not knowing what to do with himself.  
Unable to hold Heath's gaze Ozzy lowered his head and walked over to the benches to sit down.  
“Kind of...” Heath mumbled after a few moments. “I.. I have a crush on you too.”  
Ozzy felt a surge of butterflies in his stomach. It wasn't that he hadn't considered this before, but he had dismissed it thinking that even entertaining the idea would only lead to more problems.  
Slowly, Heath stepped closer, and it took a lot of self control from Ozzy not to scoot away when he sat down next to him.  
He was so used to his first instict when it came to Heath being fight or flight, so doing neither was quite difficult, but he finally allowed himself to try.

Neither of them seemed to know where to go from here. Usually, mutual confessions were a nice thing.  
“Why are we always fighting?” Heath asked. He sounded exhausted.  
After spending so much time running away, Ozzy felt exhausted too.  
“You're so.. abrasive.” Ozzy said, although his tone was not accusatory. It was a genuine attempt to at least begin to explain how they had ended up here, but Ozzy knew it was rather weak.  
“So is Richelle.” Heath replied.  
Ozzy was aware he had been obnoxious in his pursuit of Richelle. In a way he was probably just glad that he was interested in a girl and latched on to that. And he had never treated her the way he treated Heath. He never needed to.  
“You're a guy.” Ozzy finally said.  
Heath didn't sound surprised in the least when he responded, “There it is.”  
“..I'm sorry.” Ozzy mumbled. He paused, trying to gather the strength to speak on. “I tried to forget that part of myself, but... you were always there to remind me. And I kind of.. thought you were somehow doing it on purpose.” He shook his head. “I know it's stupid.”  
“Very stupid.” Heath agreed, but his voice didn't carry the spite it did when he was actually trying to insult Ozzy.

There was a pause. Heath shifted, and out of the corner of his eye Ozzy noticed him placing his hand between them with the palm facing up.  
“I know it's scary.” Heath said quietly.  
Ozzy glanced at his hand, then up at Heath. The uncertainty in his face reflected his own all too well.  
As he put his hand on top of Heath's, slowly intertwining their fingers, he suddenly became worried about whether or not his hands were sweaty, or if he was doing something wrong, if this hadn't been an invitation to hold his hand all along and he was making a fool out of himself.  
But when Heath cracked a smile Ozzy unwillingly let out a breath of relief and turned his head forward again, too flustered to hold eye-contact.  
“How do you even still like me? After everything?” he asked.  
Heath shrugged. “I guess you can't really choose when it comes to this stuff, right?”  
Ozzy nodded slowly. “..Right.” It definitely hadn't been his choice to fall for a weirdo like Heath.  
After a short pause, Heath said, “I always admired you as a dancer.”  
Ozzy couldn't hold back a smirk. “Are you finally admitting that I'm better?”  
“Don't push it.” Heath replied and they both chuckled.  
The tension in the room finally seemed to dissipate and Ozzy managed to relax a bit.  
Taking on a more serious tone again, Ozzy said, “I really didn't trip you on purpose. It was an accident.”  
Heath nodded. “Okay.”  
“But I did feel threatened by you.” Ozzy admitted, making Heath smile again.  
“I guess we can finally bury the hatchet.” Heath said.  
Ozzy nodded and their eyes met.  
“We can tell them that they can let us out now.” Ozzy said.  
“Yeah.” Heath agreed, but neither of them took out their phones.  
Instead, Heath leaned closer, nervously awaiting if Ozzy would do the same.  
Ozzy's eyes jumped to Heath's lips and he swallowed before leaning in and meeting him halfway.  
As their lips met he closed his eyes, and when they parted, he kept them closed for a bit longer to process the moment.  
When he opened his eyes again, he found Heath smiling softly at him and couldn't help but do the same.  
All this time he had been so worried what Heath – what everyone – was going to think, but maybe everything would turn out just fine as long as they were together.

Ozzy finally texted Izzy, but instead of letting them out she responded, “Prove it.”  
“How are we supposed to prove it?” Ozzy asked, throwing his hands up.  
“Let's just take a selfie or something?” Heath suggested.  
“How's a selfie gonna prove anything?” Ozzy asked. Izzy would probably think it was staged.  
Heath thought for a moment, then he smirked. “Trust me.” He took out his phone and they stuck their heads together.  
Ozzy figured it was at least worth a try.  
To his surprise, Heath turned his head and gave him a kiss on the cheek just as he tapped the phone to take a picture.  
Feeling his face turn red, Ozzy said, “You can't send that! That's so embarrassing!”  
With a smile, Heath looked at the picture. “I think it's cute.”  
Ozzy scrunched up his face. “Ugh, I changed my mind. Can we go back to fighting? I can't take this.”  
Heath laughed. “Fine, I won't send it.”  
“No, no, send it.” Ozzy replied and sighed. “At least they'll _have_ to believe it's real.”

Only moments after, the main door was swung open vigorously and in came Izzy, who clearly had difficulties containing herself. Kingston and Henry followed after her.  
As Izzy came closer her steps became less confident and she cowered a bit under Ozzy's gaze like a dog that knew it did something wrong. However, her face was cautiously optimistic.  
“My dearest sister.” Ozzy said with a big fake smile. “What did I tell you not to do?”  
Izzy squinted her eyes slightly. “..Meddle?”  
“And what did you do?” Ozzy pressed further.  
“Meddle...” Izzy replied, tilting her head innocently.  
“You meddled!” Ozzy said and pointed a finger at her.  
Izzy gave him an apologetic smile. “But aren't you at least a little bit glad I did?” Her eyes jumped between Ozzy and Heath.  
“No, no, no, no, no.” Ozzy said quickly. “You're not getting off the hook just because it happened to work out. All of you,” he gestured to Kingston and Henry as well, “are paying for lunch for 2, nay, 3 weeks!” They accepted their punishment with slow nods, but Ozzy was not done yet. “And we're gonna be the most annoying couple you have ever seen. You're gonna _wish_ we were fighting.”  
Izzy's face brightened and Ozzy realized what he had just said. Uncertain, he glanced at Heath.  
“Couple?” Henry said with raised eyebrows and fistbumped Heath.  
Heath gave Ozzy a small, flustered smile.  
With a heavy sigh Ozzy turned back to Izzy. “..Thanks.” he mumbled.  
Izzy grinned at him and all but jumped into his arms.  
Ozzy gave her a squeeze before letting go again. “Okay, okay. Can we get out of here now?”  
As they all started walking towards the door, Heath fell into step next to Ozzy and tried to play it cool when he hooked his pinky with Ozzy's.

“Tonight. Legions of Lasers. Two versus two.” Ozzy said. “The Shadow Lord and the Empress of the Night are going to _annihilate_ you!”


	2. Bonus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's a little bonus scene that my friend bullied me into writing <3

When Kingston and Lily tried to hide their relationship it was not only a stressful mess, it also did not work at all. Most people at the Next Step found out immediately.  
Everyone already knew that _something_ was going on between Ozzy and Heath, since they had been acting weird for a while now.  
Going from fighting all the time to completely ignoring each other to being friendly with each other in a very non-subtle way was sure to raise questions.  
Initially, Ozzy was resistant to tell anyone else about their relationship, but he soon realized that hiding it was the worse option.  
The most time he got to spend with Heath was in the studio, and he didn't want to have to hold back smiles and occasional flirty comments. They were still figuring out how to navigate their relationship, but surely it would be easier if they were able to do so openly.  
Plus, it felt amazing to have the support of his sister and his best friends, and he trusted his team to be nothing but supportive as well.

So, in true Next Step fashion, they had choreographed a duet.  
Before rehearsal started, they asked Nick and Emily to come and watch, although they didn't tell them why. Richelle didn't seem too pleased with having to make time for this during rehearsal, especially if they didn't want to tell her what for, but she seemed to understand that it was very important to them.  
“Alright,” Richelle said and clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention, “before we start.. Heath and Ozzy have prepared something..?” She gave them a sweet but forced smile. “This better not be a waste of time.”  
The other dancers got up from their warm-up spots and made room for them on the dancefloor. As he took his position, Ozzy glanced at Kingston and Henry, who gave him thumbs up.

The music started, and Ozzy and Heath began circling each other with long strides while holding eye-contact.   
It started out as aggressive, like animals about to attack. The circles became smaller and they were doing turns and kicks, simulating a fight, until they were close enough to push each other away by the shoulders.  
Their movements were asynchronous at first, but occasionally they would mirror each other, fall into step for brief moments of harmony before regressing to discord.  
As the dance went on the passion of the fighting turned into something more gentle. Their pushes became less and less forceful and their hands started finding each other.  
After an aerial Ozzy landed on his feet and was facing the audience for a split-second. That was enough for him to be hit with the realization that this was not only a coming-out, but also a somewhat public confession to Heath.  
Of course Heath already knew how Ozzy felt about him, but saying it in front of an audience was something else entirely. After all, he was now admitting that he actually had romantic feelings for the person he had claimed to hate for so long.  
When he turned around again, his eyes met Heath's and he felt once again reassured that everything was going to be fine.   
One moment, they were right in front of each other. The next, Ozzy turned away, but Heath grabbed his hand to pull him back.  
Ozzy put his free hand on the back of Heath's neck. Their foreheads were almost touching and with the final beat of the music they froze, albeit panting heavily.

The people around them started clapping, someone was even whistling, but Ozzy didn't register any of it right away. For a moment longer he held on to Heath, hyping himself up to face the others.  
When they finally turned towards them, he felt Heath squeeze his hand, telling him that he was not alone with his nervosity.  
Richelle was the first to speak. “That was... very nice.” The smile on her face was hesitant but sincere.   
Ozzy gave her a smile in return. He could not have imagined better praise from her.  
“Are you crying?” Emily's voice drew everyone's attention to her and Nick, who was dabbing at his eyes.  
“No.” he replied, sniffling a bit. “I've just got.. allergies. Seems like that chandelier needs dusting again.”  
“Okay, guys, I'm a little lost.” Finn admitted as they all stepped closer. “Was that...”  
“Romantic!” Piper finished his sentence while clutching her chest.  
Ozzy cracked a smile and glanced at Heath.  
“...Yeah.” Heath said. “Ozzy and I are together.”  
“Together.” Ozzy repeated for emphasis. From now on his bragging about no longer being single was only going to become more obnoxious.

Before they knew what was happening, A-troupe was huddled around them for a big group hug. Only Richelle was watching from the outside. “Okay, it's great and all, but can we start rehearsal now?”  
Instead of listening to her, Kingston and Henry reached out to pull Richelle into the hug. She rolled her eyes but couldn't hold back a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading  
> hmu on tumblr @tj-smitten


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